Operation Chaos-Could it Backfire?

March 24, 2008

Joseph Farah, the founder and Editor-in-Chief of World Net Daily, wrote an insightful article last week about Rush Limbaugh's "Operation Chaos," the name the award-winning radio talker has given his efforts to create havoc in the Democrat ranks. According to Farah, Rush's desire to keep Hillary Clinton in the race by asking Republicans vote for her in Texas and Ohio, along with the intense coverage of Rev. Jeremiah Wright's incendiary remarks, could backfire come November.

Since Rush and his conservative talk show cohorts, along with Internet blogs and conservative sites, were first in exposing the hateful rantings of Barack Obama's "former" pastor, Rev. Wright, the issue has proven so hot that even the drive-by media, as reluctant as most of them were to do so, had no choice but to report on it. In turn, Obama ultimately had no choice but to respond. The jury is still out on how effective that response was in stopping the bleeding in his campaign.

The question that we'll never know the answer to now is, what (if anything) would the Clintons have done to expose Wright's inflammatory remarks if the alternative media hadn't jumped on it? If the Clintons sat on it, afraid they would be accused of mudslinging or even racism, then Obama may have been home free until he was nominated. On the other hand, if the Clintons had gone after Obama, through their surrogates of course, it might well have backfired on them anyway. Whether it worked or not, the Clintons, not conservative commentators, would have been the main targets of Obama supporters' wrath. In essence, the alternative media have done the Clintons' dirty work for them.

The valid point that Farah makes is this: If the Wright controversy had not hit Obama until the nomination was safely his, then the Dems would have been toast in November. Now, a weakened Obama may have opened the door for Hillary Clinton to somehow finagle the nomination after all, against all odds. Whereas a month or so ago many were already writing off the Clinton candidacy, she is now reenergized and has the momentum-that is, she is and will be the beneficiary of Obama's slippage and possibly his ultimate meltdown over the Wright fiasco. Alternatively, if Obama survives this mess and still manages to win the nomination, then the firestorm over his close association with Wright could be a distant memory by November, given the short attention spans of many voters. However, to continue claiming that Hillary is the weaker candidate against McCain may be erroneous in light of recent developments.

Ironically enough, those who detest her the most have given Hillary Clinton new life in this all-important campaign. The question that will be answered over the next few months is, will those who did this live to regret it?